Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta was unwilling to accept criticism levelled against him and his players during their preseason friendly victory over Barcelona.
The Blaugrana were put to the sword 5-3 by Arsenal, after which Xavi Hernandez said that the intensity shown by the Gunners was ‘not normal’.
However Arteta said that the competitive edge to the match was as much down to the Barcelona players as his.
“From the very first tackle it got really competitive for a friendly match.”
“Playing in front of 70,000 people creates an atmosphere and they are elite players who all want to win,” MD reported.
He admit that some of the tackles were a little spicy for the level of fixture, but claimed it was out of his hands.
“At the end I think it got a bit too much for a friendly but football belongs to the players and as soon as the game starts they’ll rebel against the coaches and do what they want.”
“As soon as there’s the first foul of the game they’ll start getting intense but I think the show we put on for all the people who came to watch was really good.”
Barcelona will need to show a little more edge in their next fixture on Saturday night. Although it is still just a friendly, they will not want to be beaten by Real Madrid in El Clasico, regardless of the stage or setting. Having been laid low by a virus affecting most of the squad, Barcelona are a game behind where they expected to be in terms of fitness, after cancelling their first match with Arsenal.
